Since 2006, the government of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) had moved a total of 114,000 rural families covering 590,000 people into new houses under its controversial socialist village project, with the investment from its side of 7.022 billion yuan, reported en.Tibet.cn Jul 8. An en.Tibet.cn report Jul 21 put the number of rural people moved into new houses at 594,000, all other figures remaining the same.

Another en.Tibet.cn report Jul 23 said that 142 needy families in capital Lhasa had recently moved into a “Green Sunshine Home”, an apartment block under a low-cost, low renting project. It said that the TAR was building 4,560 cheap renting apartment blocks covering 200,000 sq.m. from 2008 onwards. It said 1,000 houses covering 70,549 sq.m. had already been completed and rented out.